The current process in the delivery of babies requires that the umbilical cord is cut shortly after the moment of birth. The function of the cord is the transmission, between mother and baby, of nutrients and oxygen through the blood flowing in the cord. The cord is thus engorged with blood at birth when severed by the obstetrician to free the baby from the mother. Samples of the blood in the cord are commonly collected at birth for chemical and biological assay to determine if the newborn is subject to possible genetically transmitted diseases.
Currently, the procedure calls for the placement of a small clamp close to the newborn to stop the flow of blood in the cord. At the moment of birth there is a great deal of fluid present, including blood and amniotic fluid from the mother, making the physician's gloved hands slippery. The combination of the small clamp size and the fluid on the gloves creates difficulty in applying the clamp. A second, typically reusable, metal clamp is then applied a short distance from the small clamp toward the mother creating a segregated pocket for cutting. A scissors cut is then made in the center of the pocket by the physician to separate the baby. This formed pocket is under high pressure created by the placement of the two clamps and, upon cutting, the trapped blood within spurts, spraying the general area to as much as ten feet away. Because of the possibility of blood carried diseases this spurting endangers medical personnel. After the baby is removed from the area an attempt is made to obtain a specimen of blood from the section of cord attached to the placenta.
Common practices to obtain this blood include the draining of the cord segment directly into an open vial or direct extraction from the cord by syringe and needle. The draining method requires one person to hold an open ended sample vial below the cord opening while a second person opens the metal clamp and attempts to direct the blood flow into the opening. In most cases the cord segment must be hand "milked" by squeezing the segment toward the vial, probably causing many contaminants to flow into the vial including mother's vaginal blood, amniotic fluids and Wharton's gel which may affect the blood testing. When a syringe and needle is used to extract the blood directly from the cord, care must be taken to prevent inadvertent needle sticks. The contents from the syringe must then be transferred into appropriate vials requiring further manipulation of needles and syringes along with the associated risk. Either blood collection method leaves contamination from blood on the external portions of the vials making it difficult to apply or retrieve patient labels.